Good afternoon All,

New to the site; just recently bought a stunning condition x-type 2001 3L Auto AWD.

I do hope this is the correct location to post as I am seeking advice, and if anybody here could oblige it would be greatly appreciated.

The story goes I purchased the above Jag fro £800 pounds...sent her for a MOT and service and the individual Jaguar specialist said it was one of the nicest he has seen of the age of the car. the only niggling thing about the car was that there was a whistling noise coming from the air vents {as if there was a leaf stuck in the vents somewhere}; but we could ignore that.

About 3 weeks later Dad called me to say that the car wont change up to top gear which meant she was reving high at speeds of 50+mph. The jag specialist said to bring her in for a look hoping that it may simply be a certain switch which has broken...however the diagnosis was worse; He said that the common fault for x-types has struck and that a certain drive shaft was at fault and that the auto gearbox may need replacing also with no guarantee that it would solve the issue.

Therefore if we wanted too go ahead with the repair we could expect a minimum of £1200+ as something mechanical would have to be sent away for restoration.

my question is has anyone else come across this problem? and if so what did you opt to do?

Many thanks in advance to all.

Regards,

 

David, first off, welcome to JF. I think you will find lots of good information here and tons of people willing to help. But, we do ask something from you. We pride ourselves in being a better car group and for your part in this, please stop by the "New Member" section and give us a quick tidbit about yourself and your car. We like keeping things friendly and very family orientated. This will also give you a chance to meet those that make this place what it is.

As for your problem, I am not sure of this "common fault" that the mechanic refers to leading to the condition that you have. Yes, the rear driveshaft can have the centering bearing go on it leading to vibrations (but that isn't your problem). The only way that the driveshaft would prevent the tranny from dropping into the top gear (ie, overdrive) is to have your foot into the gas way too much making the car think that you are trying to pass someone. But, this would be evident by the car feeling like the brakes were perpetually engaged and simply not wanting to roll all that well.

With this being said, if you have seen your gas mileage drop significantly or you are noticing that the e-brake is very easy to pull all the way up, then this would be a sign that you have a rear caliper that has stuck in the engaged position (common problem on some cars). This would also be evident after a short drive as one wheel would be slightly warm while the other would be extremely warm.

If the car seems to drive with no resistance (ie, feeling like the brakes are always engaged), then odds are you are looking at a transmission issue (you don't mention any lights being lit on the dash). So, odds are, you are dealing with a bad switch/solenoid in the tranny preventing the car from shifting into overdrive. I would say to take it to another mechanic and see what they say. If both mechanics say the same thing, then I am not going to question them as I don't have my hands on the vehicle. But, I bet you will find that the second one will have a completely different diagnosis. see which one matches up to what I have put here.

 

Thank you very much indeed for the advice Sir. I shall indeed check out the new starters page and upload some info upon my profile.

Interesting; yes no lights on the dash...I think a second opinion from a mechanic like you say might be a good idea.

The handbrake is the same from what I can tell..she is whistling and wont go up to top gear.

One thing the mechanic did say is that it may be dangerous as the drive shaft might come through the floor...is that likely I wonder.

Thanks again.

 

Check the Sport button. If you are in Sport it wont change up to 5th until you are over 50mph.

 

David, If the driveshaft is that bad, then you would be hearing many more things than what you are. Besides, the carrier bearing (the part that normally goes bad) has a large metal strap holding it in place.

If you are interested in seeing how "bad" things are, you can jack up one side of the car and crawl in under the front seats. In the center of the car, you will see the rear drive shaft. With the car properly supported (ie, on jack stands, not with the jack itself), you can grab on to the driveshaft and give it a push back and forth. If you watch the carrier bearing area (the part wrapped around the driveshaft), if you see movement, then your carrier bearing is in need of replacement. You can also twist it some and you can see if you can see some movement at the ends (U-joints). Some play is expected with the U-joints. But, everything else should be pretty much rock solid.

 

Check if its the transfer box thats making the noise, this is the known jag problem with awd versions. a good transfer box should be less than £400 and about a days labour. should be a thread on changing the box on here somwhere

 

How many miles on this car? Bought my '04 a few months ago with 104k miles on it. One of the the first things I did was to replace the ATF using the 3x drain/refill method found elsewhere on this forum. Transmission was working OK before, but this really made a noticeable improvement. I do not agree with Jaguar's (or any other car manufacturer) advice of "lifetime fill" of driveline fluids. I recommend you do this service before deciding on expensive component replacement.

 

Even is the trans was south, there are a (metric) ton of them floating around in the breakers over there. Grab one, freshen it up, and swop if needed.

 

Many thanks for all the superb replies... really making a pain of a situation more of a project... the car has only done 80k
I'm back in north Wales this weekend so will have a look and investigate further... will post my findings methodically (dad is a bit vague with his explanations over the phone ha ha)

 

Just another thought;

The mechanic said that he has replaced the auto box from an xtype in the past from one he knows has been working then in the new car it works fine for a day or two then jams...? does that sound right?

Also he said the engine has to come out for a new auto box to be fitted?

Cheers Folks

 

Had an email from the Mechanic today...

The gearbox in the x type is a jatco assembly and a known weak point, also used by vw for a short period with similar issues.
The easiest way to replace the transmission on a 4wd x type is to drop the engine assembly onto the deck, different people do have different ways about the job, some leave the engine in. But for access, sheer weight of the box, speed and risk i prefer to drop the whole unit. That alone isn't a 10 minute procedure. Due to the work and time involved in replacing the box, I am very reluctant to use a 2nd hand unit, for that reason I would insist on having the transmission reconditioned by Bristol transmissions who also do the factory units. One of a few equipped for testing the jatco unit. I would be prepared to fit a 2nd unit supplied by yourself for a cost scenario but on the understanding if the unit supplied is faulty our charges would still apply. A recon unit fitted is approx £2200 + vat.

The problems however go further. The car is in need of two front wheel bearings, both are noisy on the road, I did however explain to your dad, after driving the car and running some tests, in my opinion there is an underlying noise masked by the bearing noise, coming from the transfer casing. Unfortunately I cannot say 100% until the bearings are replaced.

Although the gear box is operational, and for most of the time does have all gears, truthfully it's not a happy box, intermittent notchy *****, irregular *****, whistle and Occasional loss of top gear, ultimately it will suffer from failure.

To stand there and suggest fitting the bearings, with the potential of needing a transfer box, replacing if required, and advising to see how it goes, would be criminal and I would need no soul and be a main dealer! As I'd be waiting for the phone call to say it's on a recovery truck. That is not me. As painful as it is to hear, I'll always be honest and explain the potential and inevitable.

In short, worst case scenario it could cost upto £3000 + vat to see her back into shape.

Many thanks